Research/Updated Transcript
Transcript Title text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. An animation shows Moby sitting on a couch and watching TV. He hears a loud thump coming from upstairs. He turns off the TV and walks upstairs to investigate. He enters a bedroom to find a huge mess. Books and papers are scattered over the floor. Pictures and notes are taped to the walls. Red string connects the images and notes in a giant spider web of information. TIM: Hahaaa! Tim jumps out at Moby. His hair is a mess and has gum in it. There are stains on his t-shirt, and the bags under his eyes suggest that he hasn't slept in days. TIM: I've cracked this baby wide open! Tim holds a newspaper up to Moby's face. The headline reads, "Mother Jones's Army." TIM: Summer of 1903, an army of kids marching from Philadelphia to New York... Th-that's like, over a hundred miles! MOBY: Beep! Moby grabs Tim by the shoulders. Tim drops the newspaper and takes a deep breath. TIM: Okay… okay, ya, maybe a break would do me good. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim & Moby, I have to do a research report, but I don’t know where to start and I’m freaking out. Can you help? From, Nitin. Sure thing, Nitin. It’s normal to feel a little nervous at the beginning of a research project. Whenever I start work on a new BrainPOP movie, I get a little… weird. Tim gestures to his messy room. Moby crosses his arms, but smiles at Tim. TIM: The topic always seems so big, and I feel like I know less than nothing about it. An animation scrolls through a wall of images. The images include newspaper articles, black-and-white photos, books, websites, artifacts, and other resources. Tim stands below the images and scratches his head. He looks tiny compared to them. TIM: But that's the point of research: to gather information, so you can figure out what to focus on. Like I'm doing here, for my project on the Progressive Era. MOBY: Beep? An animation shows Moby walking over to the information web on Tim's wall. Moby points to a coffee-stained letter. The letter reads, "Dear Tim and Moby, Can you tell me about the Progressive Era? Thanks, Eugene." TIM: Right, when we got that letter, I didn't know much about the topic. Beyond like, it was a period when there was lots of… progress? Turns out, it was this time of amazing transformation for our country. Women's suffrage, Teddy Roosevelt, the labor movement, World War I… An animation shows images of women's suffrage activists, Teddy Roosevelt, laborers holding picket signs, and soldiers in the trenches of World War I. TIM: It's tempting to try to squeeze in all the cool stuff you learn about a topic. The animation reveals that these images are on Tim's computer screen. Tim is doing research. TIM: But your project will be way more interesting if you focus on one or two things. So, step one is to narrow the scope, or how much you're going to cover. An animation shows a diagram containing a stack of cylinder-like shapes. The widest shape is at the top of the screen, and the smallest shapes is at the bottom. There is a bit of space in between each shape. Together, they form the outline of a cone. TIM: And that'll depend on the size of your project. Mine is a five-or-so minute movie. A phone showing a BrainPOP movie appears on the smallest shape in the diagram. TIM: That's a smaller scope than a 10-page paper, or, say, a whole book. A 10-page paper appears above the phone, and a book appears above the 10-page paper. MOBY:Beep! TIM: Yeah, I still couldn't define my scope until I knew more about the topic. To figure out where I wanted to focus, I did some pre-search. That's just what it sounds like: gathering info to focus your main research. An animation shows Tim holding the letter. He is about to enter his local library to do pre-search. TIM: I needed a general overview, so I started with this encyclopedia entry. An animation shows Tim back in his bedroom. He digs through the pile of papers on his floor until he finds a copy of the encyclopedia entry. TIM: Turns out, labor reform was a huge issue during the Progressive Era. Tim flips to the next page of the encyclopedia entry. TIM: Workers across the country fought to improve terrible conditions in factories and mills. So then I asked myself, which parts do I want to know more about? Tim flips to the next page again. TIM: I saw this picture—of little kids, operating this gigantic machine. And, um, I got a little obsessed. Tim gestures to the part of the article entitled "The Cost of Industrialization." The image shows two small child laborers. TIM: Child labor was common until the Progressive Era changed things. Kids younger than I am had to work in factories, mines, and other dangerous places. An animation shows the same photo in the information web on Tim's wall. The image is circled, and several red strings draw connections to other notes and photos on the wall. TIM: They put in 12- and 14-hour-days for low pay. The animation traces a string to another photo of child laborers working in a meat factory. TIM: Permanent injury and death were everyday risks. The animation traces a different string to a photo of a child laborer with an injured arm. TIM: And if they didn't work hard enough, they could be beaten. The animation traces another string to a photo of child laborers in a field. TIM: So then—so then—get this: A labor activist called Mother Jones led hundreds of child workers on a protest march. An animation shows Mother Jones marching with a group of children. Most of the children play instruments, and one child waves a flag. TIM: From Philadelphia all the way to New York City, and then on to President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home in Long Island. They called it the March of the Mill Children. An animation shows a map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. A dotted red line traces the route of the protest march. The line starts at Philadelphia, continues northwest through New Jersey, crosses through New York City, and ends in Long Island. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Right—phrasing my topic as a research question helped me define my scope. And I think mine is pretty good: How did the March of the Mill Children help child workers? An animation shows Tim pointing to a notecard taped to his wall. The notecard has his research question written on it. TIM: It's open-ended: There are several possible answers. It's specific enough that I can probably answer it in my project. And most importantly: I really want to know the answer! Icons representing these concepts appear. TIM: It's way more exciting than just, "What was the Progressive Era," right? MOBY: Beep?! An animation shows Moby starting to do research on Tim's question. He rapidly flips through the pages of a book. Then he starts taping notes to the wall. TIM: Okay, slow down!! Tim places a hand on Moby's shoulder. TIM: It’s easy to get excited and go off in all directions. That's actually a sign of a good research question—it makes you want to find out more. But stay focused: our goal is to find out the answer to that main question. An animation shows the notecard with Tim's research question. TIM: Any smaller sub-questions you choose need to help us get there. Like, what were working conditions like for these kids? What prompted them to go on a protest march? Who were some of the marchers, and what happened to them? More cards appear. They have Tim's questions written on them. TIM: Choosing your sub-questions and putting them in order is a bit like writing an outline. The notecards with the questions transform into arrows. The main research question is the biggest arrow at the top of the page. The sub-questions become smaller arrows in a vertical list beneath the main research question. TIM: They'll identify the main areas of your research, which will later be the main sections of your project. The outline fades into an image of a project. The research question is the title of the project, and the sub-questions are the section titles. TIM: To answer these questions, we'll need sources—things like books, articles, and encyclopedia entries. Icons representing various types of sources appear. MOBY: Beep? An animation shows Moby pointing to a pile of books on the floor of Tim's room. TIM: You can start by searching online. Think of search terms related to your research questions. An animation shows Tim writing search terms on his research question notecard. The terms include "textile mill," "19th century," and "child labor." TIM: Our Internet Search movie has good strategies for getting the best results. Don't forget, you can always change your questions as you learn more. The terms appear in the search box of a website on Tim's computer. He clicks "go" and a list of results appears. Tim clicks on a link about Mother Jones. TIM: Research isn't a straight line—you might return to earlier steps, or come up with new questions along the way. An animation shows Tim's outline of arrows. A new sub-question appears in the list. It reads, "What was Mother Jones's role?" TIM: And if you have access to a library, make some time to go there. You might discover sources that you couldn't find online. Plus librarians know about all kinds of things—great search tips and unusual sources. An animation shows Tim visiting the library. A librarian guides Tim to books and other resources on the Internet. MOBY: Beep? TIM: To find the most relevant info, flip through a book’s table of contents at the beginning, or its index, at the back. An animation shows images of a book's table of contents and index. The book is called American Labor Protests in the Progressive Era. The image of the table of contents shows a list of each chapter of the book. The image of the book's index shows a list of key terms from the book in alphabetical order. Next to each term is a list of pages that term appears on. TIM: Or read the headline and first few sentences of an article. An animation shows the beginning of a newspaper article. TIM: Like, in this big boy, we can skip right to Chapter 8 to read about the march. An animation shows Tim flipping through the book. MOBY: Beep! Moby is on the floor lying on his stomach. He has several notecards and a marker. He starts copying verbatim lines from his resources. TIM: Hold up—don't just copy down everything on the page! Limit your notes to things that'll help you answer your research questions. Like, examples or facts written in your own words, or paraphrased… An animation shows a few of Tim's notecards. They contain the phrases "92-mile march," "three weeks on the road," and "turned away by Roosevelt." Each notecard has a number on it. TIM: Direct quotes, using quotation marks, with the source clearly labeled… A notecard appears with a direct quote from Mother Jones. TIM: Summaries of a source's opinions… A notecard appears that contains the text, "changed people's ideas about childhood." TIM: And your own ideas about what you read. A notecard appears that reads, "Comparison to 2019 Youth Climate Strike?" TIM: I like to put each note on a separate card, with the source’s author on the back. The cards flip to reveal the sources written on the back side. The back of the card with Tim's idea reads, "Me!" TIM: That makes it easy to write a bibliography, or list of sources. An animation shows Tim's finished bibliography. The sources are listed in alphabetical order by author last name. TIM: And you can organize each card under the research question it goes with. MOBY: Beep! An animation shows Moby starting to leave Tim's room. TIM: Whoa there pally—before you go back to TV, you've gotta help me put together this outline! Moby stops walking. An idea occurs to him, and a sly look crosses his face. He holds a photocopy of an article out to Tim. Tim takes the article and starts muttering to himself as he reads it. TIM: January 15, 1919… 21 people dead in Boston molasses flood… Tim is visibly shocked. TIM: …Tank explosion sends 2 million gallons of treacle oozing through the streets of downtown Boston… Tim lets the paper fall to the ground. TIM: This is just the kind of public safety disaster that defines the Progressive Era! Moby watches Tim contemplate this new source in the context of his report. He starts to pull his notes and papers off the wall. TIM: Shut it down, we're starting over from scratch! An animation shows Moby back on the couch watching TV. He can hear noises coming from Tim's room again. Moby smiles and turns up the volume on the TV to block out the noise. 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